The Hebrew Prophets

and their mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.

Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

Your men will fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.

And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.

In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”

On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.

Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy— all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—

when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire.

Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy,

a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

I will sing for my beloved a song of his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.

He dug it up and cleared the stones and planted the finest vines. He built a watchtower in the middle and dug out a winepress as well. He waited for the vineyard to yield good grapes, but the fruit it produced was sour!

“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard.

What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

Now I will tell you what I am about to do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will tear down its wall, and it will be trampled.

I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”

For the vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of His delight. He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard a cry of distress.

Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land.

I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied.

For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain.”

Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine.

At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst.

Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers!

So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes.